Well head assembly



March 9, 1943.

A. J. PENICK ETAL WELL HEAD ASSEMBLY Filed May 9, 1940 Aer/102 J. PEN/CKhear 7." PEN/CK Patented Mar. 9, i943 2,313,169 WELL asap Assam ArthurJ. Penick standby T. Patrick, Houston, Tex.

Application May 9, 1940, Serial No. 33d,l3'7

1 Claim. 156-14) This invention relates to a well head assembly.

An object of the invention is to provide antssembly adapted to bemounted on a pipe in a veil bore and equipped with means for conrollingthe fiow of fluid from the well.

The assembly embodies a casing head mounted ii an outer pipe with atubing head thereon for upporting the tubing with sealing means arangedto shield the casing head from the high ressure fluid in the well sothat the casing head an be made of relatively light construction and ethave sufiicient strength to safely withstand he pressure to which it maybe subjected.

It is another object of the invention to proide in a well head assemblya novel arrangement f seals for protecting the casing head against ighpressures as well as for sealing between the ibing head and casing head.

The invention also embodies a novel arrangeient for testing the sealsembodied in the ssembly.

With the above and other object in view the ivention has particularrelation to certain novel zatures of construction, arrangement of partsnd use an example which is given in this Jecification and illustrated inthe accompanying rawing, wherein:

The figure shows a side elevation of the isembly shown partly insection.

Referring now more particularly to the drawg the numeral l designatesanouter casing in well attached to the upper end of which there a casinghead 2 which is formed with an inside at 3 and which is provided withoutflow lines l 4 beneath said seat.

On the seat 3 there is a packing assembly rmed oi' upper and lower wearrings 5, 6 with LB seal rings 1 between them all forming a surundingseal between the casing head and an ner well pipe 10.

Supported on this packing assembly there is a ip adapter 8 having aninside downwardly conirging seat 9 in which there is located a seriesdownwardly tapering wedg'e shaped slipsas whose inner sides are toothedto engage and pport the inner pipe la. Each slip I t is pro- :ied with agrip member H by means of which may be handled.

The upper end of this casing head 2 is formed th an external annularflange I2.

Supported on the upper end of the casing head ere is a tubing headadapter l3 which is tapered lwardly, externally and which surroundsthener pipe 1a and whose upper end is welded to id inner pipe all theway around at M. The

tubing head adapter is formed, at its lower end, with an externalannular flange 53a which registers withthe ilange H2. The facing sidesof these registering flanges having registering annular grooves in whichthe annular gasket i5 is seated thus forming a fluid tight seal betweenthem.

Bolts as i 6 are threaded through the flange 53a and extend each waybeyond said flange. The ends of these bolts are threaded to receive theupper and lower nuts ll,

The tubing head adapter 53 has external annular seal rings i9countersunk therein as shown and extending outwardly slightly beyond theouter surface of said adapter.

The numeral 2t designates a tubing head which, as shown is internallydownwardly and which is, when assembled, seated on the adapter is and issealed in relation therewith by the seal rings iii. The tubing head hasan ex ternal annular flange 29 at its lower end with registers with theflanges i2 and 5312. When the. head is assembled the bolts it extendthrough the flanges i2 and El andsaid flanges are secured in assembledrelation by the upper and lower nuts l7, it. The facing sides of theflanges l3a, 2| have registering grooves to receive the seal ring 22which forms a fluid tight seal between them.

The upper end of the tubing head has the downwardly converging seat 23and beneath said seat has the outflow lines 2d, 2%. 0n the seat 23 andin sealing engagement therewith there is a tubular hanger 35 whichsupports the well tubing 26 in the well. The tubing hanger is secured onits seat by the radial lock down bolts 27 which have threaded engagementwith the tubing head and whose inner ends are tapered to engage thedownwardly and outwardly tapered upper end of the hanger as shown. Thelock down bolts 21 are surrounded by suitable stufiing boxes 28.

Bolted onto the upper end of the tubing head there is an annular flange29 on which a Christmas tree or other well head equipment may belocated.

In assembling the head the packing unit 5, d, 7 should first be locatedaround the inner pipe 1a in the casing head with the adapter 8 and theslips i6 thereon in engagement with the inner pipe la and the tubinghead adapter should then be located and secured in place and welded tothe inner pipe 7 by the weld it. However before the tubing head ismounted on the assembly the seals between the casing head and tubinghead adapter and the inner pipe is should be tested for leakage. Forthis purpose the flange I341 is provided with a vertical bore 30 and a,radial bore 3| leading outwardly from said vertical bore. 'I'he outerend of, the radial bore is enlarged and internally threaded and a valveseat 32 is screwed therein which is controlled by an inwardly openingback pressure valve 33 normally held seated by a coil spring 34. Beforethe tubing head is mounted in place the space within the casing head andabove the packing 5, i, I may be filled with water, through the bore 30and said bore than closed by the plug 34 which should be welded in placeso as to form a com plete seal. A pressure line 35 may. then beconnected to the outer end to the bore Si by means of a nipple 38 whichis equipped with a pressure gage 31. The water filling said space withinthe casing head may then be placed under pressure and the valve 38, withwhich the line 35 is equipped, should then be closed. It the pressure ismaintained asindicated by the gage 31 it will be evidence that the sealsare not leaking but it the gage 31 indicates a pressure drop it willindicate also that the seals are defective. It the seals are effectivethe tubing head may then be mounted and secured in place and thepressure of the high pressure fluid through the inner pipe la to whichthe tubing head is subjected will be shielded from the casing head 2 sothat with an assembly of this type a casing head of relatively lightconstruction can safely be used.

When the assembly has been completed the nipple 38 may be detached.

The drawing and description are illustrative merely while the broadprinciple of the invention will be defined by the appended claim.

What we claim is:

'A well head assembly comprising upper and lower tubular heads, anadapter on the lower head shaped to surround an inner pipe and to spacethe inner pipe from the lower head, seals between the adapter and theupper and lower heads said adapter having an external, upwardlyconvergmg seat and forming a seal with said inner pipe, said upper headfitting over, and forming-a fluid tight seal with, said seat, sealingmeans within the lower head around said inner pipe and enclosing thespace between the inner pipe and the lower head, said space beingprovided to contain a substantially non-compressible medium effective totest said seals when subjected to pressure.

ARTHUR J. PENICK. KIRBY T. PENICK.

